PetroSA this week reached a significant milestone in realising its plans to build a world-class crude oil refinery at Coega, Port Elizabeth, with the announcement that the company had been granted a manufacturing licence for the project.The Controller of Petroleum Products, a unit of the Department of the Minerals and Energy, has approved the granting of a Manufacturing New Licence to PetroSA in terms of The Petroleum Act of 1977.

The licence allows PetroSA to manufacture refined petroleum products at the Coega site. The granting is however subject to certain normal business conditions, such as a permit to operate from the environmental authorities.The granting of the licence follows hard on the heels of a recent announcement to appoint international banking and financial services group, HSBC, as financial advisor to the project.

This licence, is a significant milestone in fast-tracking Project Mthombo, as a strategic initiative to build the 400 000 barrel-a-day crude oil refinery at Coega has been christened. The construction of the refinery is expected to cost US$11 billion.Sipho Mkhize, PetroSA President and CEO welcomed the granting of the licence and said it signalled a significant step in realising the construction of the refinery. “The awarding of the licence demonstrates government’s commitment to and confidence in, PetroSA’s capacity to provide a feasible, sustainable and commercially viable solution to the liquid fuels supply challenges facing South Africa,” he said.The Coega refinery is expected to be the biggest on the African continent. It will come on stream in 2014 and is expected to create over 25 000 direct and indirect jobs around the Port Elizabeth area.

Mr Mkhize said the project was of strategic importance to South Africa’s economic development aspirations.

“The Coega refinery does not only address security of supply. It also provides a strategic new energy hub in addition to the present Durban crude supply chain, while presenting a major economic growth opportunity for an under-developed region of South Africa. The granting of a manufacturing licence is one of the key enablers for advancement of this world-class project,” he added.

PetroSA will shortly be awarding an engineering contract for the Coega refinery. The engineering contract will launch the decisive Feasibility and Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) phases of Project Mthombo.